Twitch Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Beat <em>The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom</em> With Only a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrived, fans would have exhausted novel self-imposed challenges that apply special restrictions on a gameplay session. However, although numerous players have tried to finish Tears of the Kingdom using only a wooden stick, streamer the streamer stands out as the individual who endeavored to beat the adventure with a one branch—specifically, the very same one throughout.

The streamer is renowned for such challenge runs, such as the time he went through the game solely with explosives or the attempt where he tried to defeat the story with no stamina. A one-branch run, though, seems unfeasible at first glance. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole weapon wear system, which is especially relevant when dealing with the most fragile tool in the whole world. Yet if the stick breaks, that's the end. Game over.

So, How?

So, how? The straightforward explanation is exploits. The full story, believe it or not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can manipulate Tears of the Kingdom's save file system to have separate game sessions that affect one another. So PointCrow does a “preparation” file where he progresses standardly, and the actual file, where he's limited. The preparatory file has him completing the prologue and first tutorial island, and this Link gains maximum stamina and hearts. From here, he starts a cutscene and halts partway through to tell the game to open an auto-save from the branch-only file. The system gets mixed up and generates a third game file that merges the conditions of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused save file has a Link that did not obtain the capability to access shrines. Fortunately, this is an issue that the file exploit fixes easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that refuses to open some areas. As with other obstacles, he has a technical workaround for it: He begins Tears of the Kingdom on its pre-release 1.0 build, and then patches the software midway through to ensure it begins working properly.

Overcoming Weapon Wear and Other Challenges

Interestingly, the prologue version of Link is coded so that he cannot break any tools he uses, likely to prevent a situation where the player gets trapped at the beginning of the game. But that's also how PointCrow gets around the wear problem, as the character he transfers between universes is the one from the beginning of the game. It's a smart trick, but not one that eliminates all potential difficulty. The branch is still a weak weapon that renders encounters onerous. But at that stage, it's all a question of determination and dedication. It further aids that there's a duplication glitch that gives him an plentiful supply of consumables to improve his attack, or accumulate on healing spirits. He additionally makes use of a bug that allows him to clip through the world. A few would consider these methods reason to discredit the validity of the run, but to my view, he's a resourceful player who is ready to do anything necessary to entertain his viewer. He also uses a safeguard of kinds stipulating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll ban one fan from his live stream, establishing an incentive to not overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer manages to get through several of Tears of the Kingdom's main enemies, but the battles look painful. The YouTube version of his journey doesn't make the audience endure the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take multiple long hours. One enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an incredible twenty-three hours. The Ganondorf showdown, which erases Link's health as it progresses, is a notable tense moment. The indestructible branch is still just a piece of wood. He can't necessarily clone items during the fight.

Did he succeed? Technically, PointCrow manages to overcome the dragon version of Ganon. But the game forces the user to wield the Master Sword as the last strike, so strictly speaking, it's not fully a stick-only run. But what fun is that?

In the end, PointCrow removed over a thousand people in his live stream. Rest in peace.